Southern India - 9 February 2012 (2)

 Meenakshi Temple

Gopuram, Meenakshi Temple

Ceiling inside Meenakshi Temple

Just outside the entrance to the Meenakshi Temple, we saw a party, the focus of which was a newly married couple.  They were attending a blessing, either to help the bride conceive or to celebrate that she was pregnant.  Once again, they were very happy for us to take photos.

As we entered the temple, we were frisked and had to prove our cameras were indeed cameras.  This was easily done by showing a photo on the view screen, but I wondered how they did it back in the days of film.  Perhaps the security threat was lower, but it could have spelled disaster.  I remember having to take my batteries out of my camera the first time I went to India.  Instead of opening the battery compartment, I opened the film compartment and lost several photos of people I used to work with.

Blessing Party

Wedding Party

While the others were busy being searched, I dashed inside and bought 11 bangles from a shop just inside.  It would have been 12, but one broke as it was being put on.  The elderly vendor measured my hand by squeezing the part round the knuckles and immediately picked the perfect size – large enough to go on (with a fair bit of pushing) but small enough not to interfere with anything I might want to do with my hands.  The bangles were made of glass, which was why they were fragile, and were covered in glitter, much of which came off onto my hands.

Ground Squirrel in Meenakshi Temple

Gopurams of Meenakshi Temple

Once our group had reassembled, we crossed over to the Shiva side and made our way to the tank from where we could see five high gopurams and vimanas.  A wedding party walked past as we got there.

Tank Under Repair

Human Chain Removing Rubble

The tank was being refurbished – by hand.  We watched as people with pickaxes cut large chunks of stone which were put into metal bowls.  These bowls were then passed along a chain of people who carried them on their heads for a few paces or up 3-5 steps before passing them on to the next person and walking back for their next load.  Everyone wore padding on their heads.  I guess it was better to carry a heavy load a short distance and get plenty of short rests and labour was plentiful and cheap.  Both men and women took part in the human chain.  I didn’t find out how far the chain went, but it disappeared off to the left as we made our way round the far side of the tank.

Human Chain Removing Rubble

Human Chain Removing Rubble

Proud Father in Wedding Party

Further round was a model of the temple, kept under glass.  I was looking at it when Lukose called us over because he had spotted another wedding.  It seemed that this was the best way to get us all together and following him.  This time, the bride seemed to be one of the security guards as many of them were gathered round and one was acting as the bride’s support, wiping her brow and generally looking after her.  There were several young children in the wedding party.  A father happily posed with one of them who had flowers in her hair.  It was not all peace and harmony though.  One woman with a baby slapped another woman with a baby, but I could not see the reason for the dispute.

Ganesha

Lukose finally managed to lead us away and took us to where a small crowd was gathering in front of a curtained alcove.  This seemed to be an important event because a couple of holy men were part of the crowd.  After a wait, the curtain was pulled back to reveal a statue of Ganesh, dressed and decorated for the occasion.  Like many people, I thought that the queue meant that the statue would only be revealed for a brief moment so we all started snapping frantically, jostling for a good shot.  However, the crowd dissipated after a while, leaving plenty of room for everyone to get a good photo.

Carving in Temple

Marriage of Meenakshi to Shiva

We moved into a hall which contained several displays in glass cases, the first being a shrine to the planets.  Lukose said that people would pray to Saturn to ask him not to cause them harm.  A nearby statue of Shiva had some good carvings around it, including one of his marriage to Meenakshi, who is an incarnation of Parvati.

Voluptuous Statue

It had been very hot and humid inside the temple, so it was a huge relief to move into the next hall which was air-conditioned and much more comfortable.  This was the hall of 1,000 pillars.  The hall included a small exhibition of ancient bronze statues, like those we had seen before and a small cart for carrying a god in procession.

Bronze Statue of 8-Armed God

Two elephants were either side of the steps, leading up to the central shrine.  When I got to the shrine, a procession came up the hall to feed the god.  An elderly man had been sitting beside one of the elephants and he stood up when the procession came.  As they walked back down the hall, the man spoke to the final man in the procession, but he was completely ignored.  Could this be a tragic family drama, with the elderly man trying to make amends with a lost son?  It seemed very sad and I wasn’t the only one in our group to remark on it.

At long last, we emerged from the temple and were reunited with our shoes.  Even that seemed to take a long time, with Lukose having to round up people who kept disappearing.